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Just to be neat about things, I led Calloway back to the bedroom and tucked him up nice and sith his friend Baker, who I had to wake briefly in order to give hi went s and swear up and down that after the call to Sullivan I&039;d knocked them cold and escaped, which was more or less the truth Certainly Calloway had the physical evidence of it forht turned out, they&039;d be in the clear Maybe If Sullivan even knehat they were talking about No matter, I could fix him just as easy

I also planted the idea in theangs Not quit suddenly, which would get theht not last long, but for that ti to think about, perhaps act upon

Yeah, I was being too soft on &039;em Call it conscience Or rather it had to do hat Bobbi had said to me Gordy would have killed them, or made them disappear, which was prettyin the wind

Because of what I&039;d becoive theood chance they wouldn&039;t take it, Calloway thought they were in too far, but what the hell, it orth a try, even a half-assed one

That finished, I got the car keys froain

Didn&039;t bother to open it this tilass, but cared even less for buet past the two cops on watch there Besides, having done this before, I was fales and struts of the metal stairs were an easy path to follow, so doent to re-forainst the hotel&039;s shadowed outer wall

Now I could take ood look around The cops in the patrol car were still on watch There was no knohy they were just sitting there all but asking to be targets; if another Packard tore by spitting lead they wouldn&039;t last two seconds

Except for then of Angela&039;s goons, or even Gordy&039;s The party had shifted elsewhere, and I was ready to ht past the patrol cops Even if they&039;d knohere to look and when, they&039;d have had a hard ti as invisible as the hich was affecting ress Maybe I wasn&039;t solid in the nor breeze could still pushto esti blindly forward, I could only rely on ue sense of touch to keep on course With the hotel on ht and the sidewalk below, it wasn&039;t too hard, but you&039;d think I&039;d be used to the disorientation after all these , a few dozen yards later when I went solid again, one I&039;d traded it for a wave of weariness, though, like a runner after a brief sprint

At this rate, toht I&039;d have to hit the Stockyards for an extra feeding to

The street was unchanged, only my view of it had altered; I ell behind the cops and a few steps froot in, starting her up The hts off, I shifted her into reverse, gently backing along the curb to the next corner and around, well out of sight One quick U-turn later, I had the lights legally on, and was on my way to the road-house

Not h there were so eateries No car sickness for me, but then I was in the front seat, could see where I was headed, and had the driving to keepit over, I suppose I could have taken care of the cops in the lobby and questioned thelow for the present, but was still a loose cannon ready to go off Getting to her first would have eased h the old er didn&039;t have a direct line to his boss, only to a her up It&039;d be futile forthe saet annoyed, be uard, and find a hole to drop into that even Doc didn&039;t know about

But on the other hand Doc would give her to ht part of his mind, that is I just hoped he wouldn&039;t be too drunk to cooperate

And most importantly, I could see Opal, check on her; another reason to let the probleo look after itself for now

The ain, thinned out, turned into serew monotonous, and the corner I wanted snuck up onI hit the brakes only just in ti into it a little too sharp for safety, but the big car landed back on all four wheels without much complaint, bounce or swerve If I&039;d tried that in hter Buick, I&039;d have ended up sideways in a ditch

The unpaved drive led right to the house, and the only cover was a thin line of scraggly bushes that had lost all their leaves I wanted to park close enough for a fast getaway but not to the point where my car would be spotted Soon as I hts to lessen that chance, but still felt exposed and vulnerable If they were on the ball, someone would have seen h No moon showed, lots of clouds liround I had to reht to me, to everyone else it would be solidthe drive, but those were up well past the house They would conceal the car, but if I had tocut off before getting to the ht after so It wasn&039;t like Sullivan&039;s people could prepare theht the next best thing to a ghost?

Lights still off, I eased along the drive, glad of the well-tuned hush of the engine, and the wind The latter would cover the sound of the tires crunching along the dirt surface Still, I had to pass fairly close, and because I was , I couldn&039;t tell if any curtains twitched at those s overlooking the lane At h so that an occasional passing car would be ignored, but if anyone glanced out and saw this one easing by with its lights off, I couldn&039;t expect theht think Calloway had run into trouble-

which he had-and then do so about it

Too bad I couldn&039;t make the whole damned car invisible

The trees, once I reached thereens with low branches all bunched together between me and the house I found a spot to pull in, did so wheel to turn the car so it pointed outward, then shut it down and waited, listening to the wind, eyes wide for any and all movement

If you could call a difference of five feet in elevation high, then I had the high ground My perch, such as it was, overlooked the rear and part of the right side of the place When I&039;d come in with Calloway, I&039;d noticed three cars parked in the back lot; now one was , and I couldn&039;t recall offhand which, not that I&039;d noticed their make or plate numbers at the time I wondered how many men had left in it

The fewer soldiers inside the roadhouse to deal with, the happier I&039;d be

Lights showed on the second floor People were still awake and , but I didn&039;t expect theht, especially since Sullivan thought I wouldn&039;t be calling again untilSooner or later they&039;d have to slon and sleep When that happened, then I would see what to do about getting Opal and Doc away For the tiot settled and quiet, which ht take a while, but I kne to keep busy

After ot out of the Caddie and closed the driver&039;s side gently, just enough for it to latch I checked uns I&039;d taken from Calloway and Baker were still in place

The revolver on the right, Baker&039;s semi-auto on the left- with the safety off I probably wouldn&039;t need theht have to use a more normal kind of intiht occurred to love compartot lucky and turned up a flashlight The batteries were less than new, but its feeble light would be like a search beacon toas there was some illumination for the a very dark place indeed, ahead

Feeling ready for nearly anything, I walked to the edge of the trees, got a firm fix infast along the ground-and still fighting the wind-I sped toward the right side of the house where I&039;d seen a line of sainst so, I re-forh for a quick look around

The nearest , like others I&039;d seen, was latticed over with a thick ood effort, but useless against h the cracks

Noas floating blind in completely unknown territory All kinds of obstacles loos One advantage of this state was I couldn&039;t knock anything over or collect bruises froular shape and height, probably crates, most likely liquor boxes

When I found a clear space in their ain

Dark, as I&039;d anticipated I ell away froh for me to see I was in an aisle forh on either side of me, and I&039;d been correct about their alcoholic content, though it was beer bottles not booze E their length, going farther into the shadows

It was a pretty big place, probably taking up the whole foundation of the joint, and hadfor needed to lead to the kitchen

When it got so thick even ht It was a risk, but I&039;d listened carefully and deter me the free run of this area

More odds and ends sprang out of the dimness, stacks of chairs and tables, some broken, boxes of Christs full of dirty tablecloths ready to be trucked off to the laundry, and junk like that As I went deeper the inventory gradually changed, and I alking between cans of lard and sacks of flour Roaches scuttled boldly over the dusty floor The stairs here went straight up to a closed door and a thin line of light showed along its base I&039;d found the way to the kitchen

Cutting h the slender opening under the door It was like squeezing through the narrow neck of an hourglass and seees before I was co my way past the more resistant material of the wood All was quiet on the other side as far as I could tell with , so I went solid

The kitchen was empty and clean, really clean The table where I&039;d put Opal and the linoleu in the air was the astringent bite of so of it ren of what had happened earlier was quite gone

Maxwell had said she was all right, and I&039;d wanted to believe hiht, but it wouldn&039;t go away If she hadn&039;t made it, they&039;d have taken pains to clear out all evidence that she&039;d ever been here

Heart heavy, I went to the door leading to the rest of the house, intent on finding out as going on

After a cautious quarter-hour of partial to fully invisible poking around, I deter on at all

I counted tenthe upstairs, and no one anywhere else Five were gathered in one of the larger roo poker, the others scattered around the rest of the floor, two listening to a radio, two sprawled asleep on sofas, and one on a phone away fro for a date with so office was en, but I did find Doc By accident I e area for a h the situation and discovered his semiconscious body in the same s and the nearness of his heartbeat, and that made me ju ht and gave it a tug The di supplies, rags, and siantic vacuum cleaner and Doc

He was curled on his side on the bare wood, knees drawn up and a bleary griht him He shaded his eyes and squinted up athere?" His voice was thick Drunk, drugged, or roughed up by Sullivan&039;s clowns, take your pick, he wasn&039;t in very good shape

"Where&039;s Opal?" I whispered, dropping to one knee

"They took her away Sullivan, some of his boys Tol&039; &039;em not to"

"Where&039;d they take her?"

"Daot her" He pushed hiht and rubbed his face

"Hoas she doing?"

"Poorly I got the bleeding stopped, but she needed a blood transfusion and other kindsa stuff I couldn&039;t do for her If&039;n I&039;d had ot any idea where she is?"

He shook his head

"Didn&039;t they say anything, give any hint?"

"Wish I could tell you otherwise, but they wasn&039;t h Wrapped her up warht up to the door so she wouldn&039;t get bu carried out"

That sounded better than I&039;d expected, but not all that satisfying "How many of them? Who?"

"Sullivan, a couple others"

"What about Maxwell?"

"Don&039;t recall, maybe He&039;s not the sort you noticeme back up to this hole at the same time What the hell&039;re you doin&039; here?"

"Keep your voice down"

Lower tone "What the hell&039;re you-"

"I&039; you out-in one piece"

"Well, son, then I&039;m on your side What do you want me to do?"

I stood and tried the doorknob Locked, as I&039;d expected, which hy I&039;d covered the action with otten in Now I put an ear close to the ja listen Heard the radio down the hall and the occasional uy on the phone had hung up The rest were too quiet for , I hoped No one seemed to be immediately outside the closet Good

"Is the coast clear?" he asked He&039;d been holding his breath

"Not just yet Our best chance is to wait until they&039;re all asleep It may take some time Do they check on you often?"

"Not since they threw otta take a leak"

I pointed toward one corner "There&039;s a bucket Don&039;t draw their attention if you can help it, I want the I also don&039;t want the I&039;m here, so keep shut"

"Can&039;t blaet inside anyhow?"

"Jimmied a lock"

"I mean in here"

"Slipped in under the door"

"S so helpful to one with Calloway, I had a talk with Angela and we et you out safe, she&039;ll think twice about a ith Sullivan"

"Musta been some talk Nice of her to care"

"When we&039;re clear of this joint, you&039;re supposed to take me to her"

"She say where?"

"She said you&039;d know, so you tell me"

"Not so fast You could have struck a deal with Sullivan an&039; be joshin&039; et her in front of a bullet by-"

"Doc" I dropped to my heels in front of him, fixed a hard look on his lined face and baby-blue eyes "Tell ela"

He blinked a few tio to hell"

I tried again, but it didn&039;t work There was too et past

"What do you take ot no reason to trust you, no ela has pretty irl"

"All I&039; this town apart-"

"And a hty fine senti until I have the go-ahead from her" He put a stubborn set on his mouth and crossed his arms

Nuts I&039;d just have to wait until he was sober orto talk on his own

To achieve the latter, I&039;d have to get us away from here, which shouldn&039;t be too hard, but I wasn&039;t all that happy over the prospect of hypnotizing ten guys into slumberland I could do it, but it would be a whale of a chore and certainly bring back s could get even oal was to duck in and out of the road-house-Doc and Opal in toith no one the wiser, then clearing thebefore the sun caet half of it accoone running off, even if his intent was to help Opal

"Okay, Doc, neverback tonight?"

"Nope"

"I&039;ll have to leave you here and scout around for the best way out It could take a while"

"How long a while?"

"I don&039;t know, an hour or two, maybe more, till they fall asleep"

"How &039;bout I just co and keep an eye on what you&039;re doin&039;?"

"Too risky I need to keep low and ht so I can get to you"

He shot et it"

"Not yet, you don&039;t; I&039; back for you, because that&039;s part of et back, you need the rest" I wanted to force one on him, but spared myself the effort and likely disappointrees of inebriation, and would probably conk out five ht cord another pull and the closet went black again "Stay put and keep quiet," I said in parting, then vanished and reforently "Fle noises as he heaved to his feet The light cah the crack at the base of the door He tried the locked knob "Hey-!"

"Shut up!" I snarled back

"How&039;d you get out there? I didn&039;t see the door open"

"Tell you later Now keep quiet"

He made noises to indicate his dissatisfaction with ain listened hard for any reaction froo to work

My first choice was to find the guy who had been on the phone Separated froh the room he&039;d been in and ca where he&039;d gone off to, since he could turn up at any given inconvenient moment

Another invisible sweep He wasn&039;t anywhere on the floor I went downstairs, thinking he ht be after a drink at the bar, but that area was locked up

Kitchen So around there

Better and better None of the other s would hear us this far away I eased in and concluded by the sounds that he was fixing apast his area, I took up a spot as far away froet and very slowly reappeared

He worked using only the sht over a stove, but it was plenty for ht ahile I got a look around He had an icebox door opened wide and was very absorbed in deciding what food to take out A fat block of cheese was already on the table, along with some bread and mustard Nobody else was around This would be h to close the space between us, then solid just as he straightened with three eggs in one hand and an onion in the other

Maybe I should have waited until he&039;d put the stuff on the table He gave a terrific yelp of surprise at

Sohly underI ot interrupted I didn&039;t want anything to look funny, so I kept nervous watch as he got the broken eggs off the floor and retrieved the onion fro he did was to tell one, except he couldn&039;t, since he didn&039;t know Ihi worth knowing He was just another soldier and not one with any kind of rank He could only confirirl to parts unknown and there was no telling when he&039;d be back

But I already knehen: eight o&039;clock the nextthe promised phone call at that time At least Doc would be out of the line of fire, andfra to be a complete water haul, but it could have been better Nobody else was cooperating; I was starting to get into a bad mood frosto interrupt his meal, I told him to continue hatever he had in et very sleepy and take a nice long nap He took the suggestion-along with the one to forget all about ot on with his preparations It looked to be an egg-and-onion sandwich

I vanished away froot to be too much and floated back under the cellar door, ot out the flashlight Next I fished out my notebook and flipped it open to theaway fro, stopped, and turned right toward the wall It was fairly clear of clutter, compared to the rest of the place, just some old paint cans and a broken broom, exactly what she&039;d said would be there I moved them out of the way

My flash picked up the unpainted wood boards no different fro the rest of the wall Halfway up, one of theh I hooked a finger inside it and first pulled, then pushed to work the latch reat job of carpentry; a two-foot-wide, six-foot-tall section swung inward on a special concealed hinge Escott would have loved it I shone ht inside and was surprised to see a sizable chamber within It seemed clear of booby traps and alarm wires, so I stepped in sideways

With a low ceiling like the rest of the base and completely walled up except for the narrow hidden door It looked to be part of the original layout of the foundation, but sectioned off fro outside ht reveal its existence, but there&039;s not many ould bother with such a detail

The stuffy air s crates lined one side I found an open one and checked it, discovering a fine collection of brand-new shotguns and ammunition A second box turned up a carefully packed Thos, a third revealed a nus Vaughn Kyler had apparently been prepared for all kinds of fun up to and including an assault by the United States Marines Corps Angela knew about the money; I wondered if she knew about all the weapons She&039;d have one hell of a field day with those grenades

Toward the back was an old cot, a lantern on the bare floor next to a pack of cards, and a scatter of dusty irls (usually screa the covers Damned if one of them wasn&039;t a copy of Spicy Terror Tales-I&039;d been trying to write a story to sell to the all abandoned on the desk in my own basement sanctuary at home I felt like years had passed since I&039;d last worked on it

With all the guns at hand I knew the place wasn&039;t ang needed to lay low, this here they took him If the cops raided the joint all the person had to do was duck down here and fill the tiot tired of searching and went away If you didn&039;t knohere to look to get in, then too bad

Enough of a chill hung in the air to let er unless you absolutely had to, adding to its security There was no real lock for the entry, just the trick of the latch, so few people would think to look here for anything really valuable other than the guns It was secret, but not too secret Whatever Kyler chose to keep down here would be safe fro members

At the farthest end of the room were four innocuous, unmarked crates piled on top of one another, no different from all the others If Opal hadn&039;t told me what to look for, I&039;d have passed theht to them They were covered with dust, unreh and tide, , with thick rope handles, and had most likely once held weapons the same as the other boxes I tried to lift the toprip on the nailed-down lid and hauled sharply upward The nails squawked against the wood as they reluctantly parted company The case lid caht high

I don&039;t have ht my breath all the same

Couldn&039;t help it

Holy shit

Crammed within were fat bundles of fives, twenties, fifties, and hundreds, row after row of the of old paper, ink, and the hands that it had passed through No way to tell how rand was in this one box alone, but it was still a hellacious amount of money before me, and all I could do was stare

A lot of fast thoughts were rushing around in h Embodied before me on these bits of paper was the potential of a dozen different futures for yours truly, all of the extreme comfort and luxury as the main theme Sure I was a vampire, but like everyone else on the planet I&039; away from this place with all that cash packed into the trunk of the car see in the world I could do for h It was, after all, dirtyhouses, the nu, protection payoffs, and the other varied rackets going on in this city An unbelievable pile of cash ca more incredible was the fact that this cache was less than a fraction of a fraction of as being h this city every month Misery money Every last dollar of it Who was I to enjoy it?

On the other hand as I not to? Better ht? And it wasn&039;t like I&039;d never done this sort of thing before Only a few rand of Frank Paco&039;stwice We were still living well on it At the tient was entitled to any reward his conscience would per,rand wasn&039;t anything co with that hts of coins clouded ood to be true I knew for damn sure thatat all

I could just shove the lid back on and walk away frorief

But only saps in theI wasn&039;t that saintly or that nuts

I kept staring and hoping sohtenment would clear away my sudden doubts, but none cas to deal with tonight

Finally I gave a shrug What the hell, I&039;d take it now and work out the moral problems later when there wasa way of getting the whole shebang out of here

Lifting the crates was easy, I wasthe and bulky I&039;d have to get creative While I considered possibilities I broke open a big bundle of hundreds and began shoving the smaller bundles of bills-one thousand in each-into the various pockets of my overcoat, suit coat, and pants pockets The stuff went away surprisingly fast and didn&039;t take up that reed did have a practical inspiration: If I got interrupted, then I&039;d at least have soe" to carry away Call it a tip for all the trouble I&039;d been through up to now There was no point in counting it just yet, but I knew it to be several thousands I collected enough in the next couple oftime to come

God bless Aleefully went to work

Slipping back outside the hidden roos stuffed with table linens No one would miss a few of these; I emptied one after another onto the cold concrete floor A quick retrace ofcash into the laundry sacks I divided it into thirds, roughly esti that was how much I could disappear with in order to safely carry it out to the car

The estimate proved correct when I took aone of the heavily loaded bags close towithout a hitch

There were nine of them in all at the end, and they took up a lot of space, and nine trips to the car and back took a hell of a lot of effort and energy froo pretty fast, since I can move very quickly once shed of the nor or noise and I can flit through brush and trees like s thinned out and more tired than the last, but soon the Caddie&039;s trunk was full, with bags left over The rest I shoved onto floor of the backseat, tired to the point of dizziness by the time I&039;d finished Maybe I was better suited for sprints instead ofboard for a time to catch up with myself and see if a little rest would help

I was pushing things, but judged this onetiuy have to pick up thisless than none, so I&039;d take mine while I had it and deal with the physical consequences later at the Stockyards

Before I completely quit the hidden room I put the empty crates back into place, their lids pressed down ela did e to come here after the money, she&039;d knoho had it, then it would be et that far

Checked etting rich-

and not a peep fro farht as I&039;d hoped

Tie

To conserve strength, I went up to the second floor solid, ears wide open for any sound Nothing but snoring froiven up for the night I catfooted to the storage closet and tried the knob, putting soht fro noises, but not enough to disturb anyone enough to wake up for a look

Still, I counted to a hundred before taking out the re the door open

Doc was asleep and ht batteries were nearly gone, but I flicked it on a moment so he could see, then helped him to his feet

"What now?" he whispered

"Down to the kitchen nice and easy and out the back door I got a car up in the trees ready to go I&039;et interrupted, you duck and let me take care of them"

"You&039;re welco on tothe hall, thankful for the thick carpet I was still dry- very vulnerable, mostly for his sake He couldn&039;t disappear if he had to

The graveled lot was the sahly exposed stretch of open ground as fast as Doc could take it He picked up so hi loud

We finally made the cover of the trees, and I paused to look back while he wheezed and gulped, trying to catch his breath No new lights, no sign of et away clean on this one after all Once inside the car I could gun it to hell and gone if I wanted and nuts to then I had of trouble was a glireen roadster parked in the trees just a bit farther up the rise If my eyes had been hu hadn&039;t been there on ed to a courting couple looking for a quiet spot to neck I stopped us cold, but by then it was too late to do anything

Four of the behind the Caddie

Theydown the road from the other direction or I&039;d have heard them pass the roadhouse Maxwell, wrapped in a brown suede raincoat, was in front, and so confident he didn&039;t bother to take his hands from his pockets

The dirty as for the other three uns

"Oh Shit" Doc su, this wasn&039;t part of the agreement you made with Mr

Sullivan," Maxwell inforentle, unpleasant sed at his nor Miss Paco to-"

"All right, can it You caught me, we all know it So nohat?"

"So you and the doctor step away froh to be searched, then we&039;ll all go back to the house"

"Where&039;s your boss? Where&039;s Opal? Is she okay?"

He didn&039;t answer, only gave the nod to one of the gorillas to check us for weapons

Doc was clean, but I was loaded down, and not hat they expected The first pocket the gorilla checked was full of bundles of hundred-dollar bills He pulled one bundle free fro to see better

"Hey, Max, lookit this The guy&039;s a frigging bank"

Their eyes all widened as they e su of true reverence in a crowd